As an investigative reporter for CBS News, Ms. Attkisson was responsible for investigating and reporting on national news stories. Between 2011 and 2013, she investigated and prepared various high-profile news reports, including ones related to the “Fast and Furious” “gunwalking” operation and the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya… In 2011——at the… Read more »

No matter how much you warn visitors to Cuba that they’ll be offline during their stay, they often won’t believe it until they actually arrive in Havana. Is this about to change? Source: BBC Technology News Date: March 8th, 2017 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39119873 Discussion 1) The title of this article is “Will Cuba embrace the internet revolution?” Isn’t a… Read more »

Wikileaks recently released thousands of documents that it said described sophisticated software tools used by the CIA to break into smartphones, computers and even Internet-connected televisions. Source: New York Times Date: March 7th, 2017 Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/world/europe/wikileaks-cia-hacking.html?action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=64996424&pgtype=Homepage&smid=fb-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur&_r=0 Discussion 1) “The WikiLeaks release said that the CIA has managed to bypass encryption on popular phone and messaging services.” Does this… Read more »

Three weeks after reports that Cameroon had blocked the internet in English-speaking parts of the country, residents say services have yet to be restored. So what is going on? Cameroonians have little doubt that pulling the plug on internet services for about 20% of the population is an intentional act by the government. Source: BBC Technology… Read more »

Silicon Valley is built on big bets about the future. Now it must grapple with a big political bet gone wrong. A collective shock spread through the tech industry on the night of the U.S. election (early November) as founders, executives and investors realized that something they’d thought to be nearly impossible had happened: Donald… Read more »

For months now, we’ve been told that Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails were permanently erased and destroyed beyond recovery. But newly released FBI notes strongly suggest they still exist in several locations — and they could be recovered, if only someone would impanel a grand jury and seize them. Source: New York Post Date: November 1st, 2016… Read more »

German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a broadside at internet media giants, accusing them of “narrowing perspective,” and demanding they disclose their privately-developed algorithms. Merkel previously blamed social media for anti-immigrant sentiment and the rise of the far right. Source: RT News Date: November 1st, 2016 Link: https://www.rt.com/news/364235-merkel-facebook-google-algorithms/ Discussion 1) Is it possible that Facebook and Google algorithms could… Read more »

The Obama administration is accusing Russia of hacking US political organizations. States are reporting attempts — in one case successful — to breach voter registration databases. And the final days of the campaign are dominated by talk of whether the race is “rigged.” Source: CNN Date: October 27th, 2016 Link: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/election-day-russia-hacking-explained/index.html Discussion 1) “Nobody is going to be able to change the outcome of… Read more »

Robotics and AI have “huge potential” to reshape the way people work and live, but the government needs to do more to address the issues raised by such technology, including careful scrutiny of the probable ethical, legal and societal impact. Source: BBC Technology News Date: October 18th, 2016 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37618579 Discussion 1) What might be some probable ethical issues… Read more »

Yahoo has downplayed a report that said it had scanned millions of its users’ emails on behalf of the US government. Reuters made the allegation recently, saying Yahoo had created special software to comply with a classified directive. Source: BBC Technology News Date: October 11th, 2016 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37568106 Discussion 1) Every email was scanned. “Sources had told said… Read more »